Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) Downgraded by Zacks Research to Strong Sell

Zacks Research cut shares of Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) from a hold rating to a strong sell rating in a research report report published on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Natural Gas Services Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Natural Gas Services Group from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 20th. Finally, Raymond James Financial cut shares of Natural Gas Services Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $34.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $43.00.

Natural Gas Services Group Trading Up 0.2%

NGS opened at $39.75 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $500.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.32 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.33 and a quick ratio of 1.49. Natural Gas Services Group has a one year low of $16.73 and a one year high of $40.73.

Natural Gas Services Group (NYSE:NGS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, March 16th. The oil and gas company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by ($0.05). Natural Gas Services Group had a return on equity of 7.43% and a net margin of 11.56%.The business had revenue of $46.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $43.81 million. Analysts predict that Natural Gas Services Group will post 1.42 EPS for the current year.

Natural Gas Services Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 4th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 18th were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 18th. Natural Gas Services Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Natural Gas Services Group

In related news, Director Stephen Charles Taylor sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.23, for a total value of $1,116,900.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 175,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,531,333.36. This represents a 14.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 5.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Natural Gas Services Group

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Weber Capital Management LLC ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Natural Gas Services Group in the 4th quarter worth about $16,777,000. Cannell Capital LLC lifted its position in Natural Gas Services Group by 279.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cannell Capital LLC now owns 331,616 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock valued at $8,559,000 after acquiring an additional 244,193 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC bought a new stake in Natural Gas Services Group during the fourth quarter worth about $3,591,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Natural Gas Services Group by 133.7% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 169,023 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $4,731,000 after acquiring an additional 96,690 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Natural Gas Services Group by 151.8% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 153,361 shares of the oil and gas company’s stock worth $3,958,000 after purchasing an additional 92,444 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.62% of the company’s stock.

About Natural Gas Services Group

Natural Gas Services Group, Inc (NYSE: NGS) is an energy infrastructure company specializing in natural gas distribution and compression services across the United States. The company operates two primary lines of business: the Distribution segment provides natural gas delivery to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while the Compression Services segment rents, sells and services a diversified fleet of compression equipment for midstream and industrial applications.

In its Distribution segment, Natural Gas Services Group engineers, constructs and maintains local pipeline networks, meters and related apparatus to ensure safe and reliable natural gas supply to municipal utilities and private customers.